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Re:A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the ne... by krasin on Sunday June 20, 2021 @10:25PM (#27575685)
The diameter of this asteroid is estimated to be ~160 km, which is 21.7 times less than Moon with d=3474 km. Assuming similar density, the mass of the new asteroid is 10000 less than Moon and it's unlikely to affect much.
Re:A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the ne... by rob74 on Sunday June 20, 2021 @11:45PM (#27576109)
Ah, ok, good to know! When I read "dwarf planet", I automatically assumed it to be bigger than (or at least comparable in size to) the moon, which is a mere sattelite of a small planet. Then again, even Pluto, which was considered for a long time to be an "actual" planet, is smaller than the moon...
Re:A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the ne... by cbkeller on Monday June 21, 2021 @12:58AM (#27576437)
Earth's moon is freakishly large by moon standards, as it turns out!

> At about one-quarter the diameter of Earth (comparable to the width of Australia), it [the Moon] is the largest natural satellite in the Solar System relative to the size of its planet, the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System overall, and is larger than any dwarf planet.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

Re:A dwarf planet coming within 11 AU of the sun over the ne... by niyikiza on Tuesday June 22, 2021 @10:15PM (#27600030)